Friday, November 22, 2013

“5 pointz is gone,” reads this update on
the aerosol institution’s Twitter. “Painted white overnight by the
owner with police protection.” Pillowy white botches can now be seen
spotting the building, covering up roughly 80% of the exterior pieces.

Photo: Aymann Ismail/ANIMALNewYork

Formerly referred to as the Phun Phactory, the massive building in
Long Island City has operated as a legal graffiti playground for nearly
two decades, giving writers a safe space to practice and showcase their
skills. The owner of the property announced in 2011 that it would be
demolished and turned into a sprawling residential complex, sparking a
legal battle and outcry by artists.

In addition to allowing artists to spray paint the exterior with
their vibrant names, characters and murals — making it visible from the 7
Train — the building also housed numerous studios for artists.

Tuesday, November 19, 2013

Usually, it is the graffiti artists who work under the cover of
darkness, hoping to evade police detection as they scrawl a tag on
property that is not their own.

But on Monday night, it was the owner of a building in Queens who used a
crew of painters to work overnight and paint over graffiti on a
warehouse in Long Island City, wiping clean a canvas that was used by
thousands of artists over the years to transform an otherwise
nondescript, abandoned brick building in a working-class neighborhood
into 5Pointz, a mecca for street artists from around the world.

By Tuesday morning, the work of some 1,500 artists had been wiped clean,
the Brobdingnagian bubble letters and the colorful cartoons spray
painted on the building’s brick walls all covered in a fresh coat of
white paint.

“We are supposed to be the vandals, but this is the biggest rag and
disrespect in the history of graffiti,” said Marie Cecile Flageul, an
unofficial curator for 5Pointz.

1st place - NAPPER - Philippines: perfect combination between the theme of the battle
and the letters. The artist took inspiration by the recent super typhoon that struck his nation. Our thoughtgoes toall the victims.

2nd place - SICK - Israel: awesome illustration perfectly integrated with the rest of the piece,
tough letters, perfect use of colors and very creative
concept! This is a talented and skilled artist!

3rd place - SAYTONE - Italy: Original letters and well drawn characters.It representswell the themeof the battle.

Streetartandgraffiti.blogspot.com is not going to exhort the illegal writing, but shows only a preexisting phenomenon.The artists's material is sent to us in anonymous form. We hold the right to be contacted by the artists in presence of copyrighted photos or in case of recommendations.